The present invention relates, in general to a range hood installed in a kitchen of houses or restaurants at a position above a cooker, such as an electronic range, for accomplishing ventilation of the kitchen and, more particularly, to a range hood using a double absorption filter capable of quickly and smoothly exhausting contaminated air along with odors from the kitchen to the atmosphere while effectively removing oil, dust and other impurities from the exhaust air through absorption, the range hood being also designed to be usable for a desired lengthy period of time.
As well known to those skilled in the art, a range hood is installed in a kitchen at a position above a cooker, such as an electronic range, for smoothly exhausting contaminated air mixed with oil-laden steam generated from food and gas generated from the cooker during a cooking process. In a conventional range hood, a filter is installed in a hood body communicating with a ventilation duct installed in the ceiling of a kitchen, and removes oil, dust and other impurities from exhaust air.
However, such a conventional range hood is problematic in that oil, dust and other impurities are gradually deposited on the filter as time goes by to spoil the appearance of the hood and reduce the operational function of the filter, thus finally forcing a user to change the existing filter with a new one. The conventional range hood is thus inconvenient to the user and forces the user to pay excessive money to maintain and repair it.
Korean Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. 99-16329 discloses a range hood filter for electronic ranges, which is installed at a predetermined position inside-an-exhaust air passage defined between a twin fan and a front grille of an electronic range, with front and rear exhaust guiders respectively arranged on the surfaces of front and rear metal nets of a filter body such that the exhaust guiders cross each other.
Korean Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. 99-25920 discloses a device for detachably attaching a filter guard in range hoods. In this device, an insert pin is integrally formed at each side of the rear end of a filter guard, while a guide hole is formed on the internal surface of each sidewall of a hood body. The filter guard is thus detachably attached to the hood body by inserting the insert pins of the guard into the guide holes of the hood body.
Korean Patent Publication No. 144621 discloses a range hood, consisting of a hood body, an exhaust guide drum, a filter, a water tray, an overflow pipe, and a feed pipe. In the range hood, the hood body is arranged on the ceiling of a kitchen to communicate with a ventilation duct, while the exhaust guide drum is fixed on the lower surface of an upper plate provided in the hood body. The guide drum also has a plurality of slits forming air passages by their opposite sidewalls which are inclined to gradually reduce the width of the passages in a direction from the top to the bottom The filter is installed inside the exhaust guide drum, while the water tray is installed at a position under the guide drum. The overflow pipe is installed such that its top end is aligned with the water level inside the water tray. The feed pipe is used for feeding organic separation water to the water tray and maintaining a predetermined water level inside the water tray.
However, such conventional range hoods are problematic in that they fail to smoothly, easily, quickly or effectively remove oil, dust, odors or other impurities from air inside the kitchen. The filters used in the conventional range hoods must be frequently cleaned or changed with new ones since it is impossible to use the filters for a desired lengthy period of time without cleaning or changing the filters. The conventional range hoods are thus inconvenient to users.
Accordingly, the present invention has been-made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a range hood for home use or restaurant use, which uses a double absorption filter that has been typically used for industrial applications, and which thus quickly and smoothly exhausts contaminated air along with odors from a kitchen to the atmosphere while effectively removing oil, dust and other impurities from the exhaust air, and which is usable for a desired lengthy period of time.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a range hood using a double absorption filter disclosed in Korean Patent registration No. 238993 applied by and allowed to the inventor of this invention. The range hood of this invention consists of a lower plate, having a plurality of perforations and an inward locking flange formed along the top edge of each sidewall thereof Two guide panels, each having a locking part with a U-shaped cross-section, are assembled with the lower plate by an engagement of their locking parts with the inward locking flanges of the lower plate, thus forming a hood body. A double absorption filter having a collapsible bellows structure is installed inside the hood body, with a plurality of supporters mounted to the guide panels to maintain the filter inside the hood body and prevent the filter from being undesirably removed from the hood body. The top of the hood body is covered with a hood cover, while an exhaust duct extends upward from the top of the hood cover. A fan motor is installed on the top of the exhaust duct, and an exhaust fan is installed inside the top of the exhaust duct and is operated in conjunction with the fan motor to form a suction force inside the hood body. A ventilation duct extends from the top of the exhaust duct to discharge air from the hood body to the atmosphere.
In the range hood, the double absorption filter is formed by a parallel integration of a plurality of longitudinal hollow bodies, each of which is made of thick paper and has an inverted triangular cross-section, with a longitudinal top wall of each hollow body bent downward along its central axis to form a V-shaped cross-section. A plurality of top holes having a circular profile are formed on the top wall of each hollow body of the filter along the central axis, while a plurality of side holes having a circular profile are formed on one sidewall of each hollow body of the filter in such a way that-the side holes are not directly aligned with the top holes, but are alternately arranged relative to the top holes to form a zigzag arrangement of holes. Liquid-phase impurities laden in exhaust air, introduced into the interior of the filter through the side holes, are thus not discharged from the filter through the top holes, but are dropped to the acute bottom of the interior of the filter so as to be collected on the bottom
In the range hood of this invention, the filter is made of a fire resistant thick paper, which is impregnated with a fire retardant and is produced through a conventional paper producing process. The filter is formed by a parallel integration of a plurality of longitudinal hollow bodies each made of the thick paper and having an inverted triangular cross-section. The filter has a collapsible bellows structure, thus being extended or collapsed as desired. Due to the filter installed in the hood body, the range hood of this invention quickly and smoothly exhausts contaminated air along with odors from a kitchen while removing oil, dust and other impurities from the exhaust air.